


Tinikling

by doodleweb



Category: Noli Me Tangere & Related Works - José Rizal
Genre: Angst, Dancing, Flashbacks, Fluff, Guilt, I made chapter 2 at 3 am instead of homework, M/M, Tinikling, but eh, finally I finished 1 out of 73 of my elibarra fanfics, hurrah me, kinda rushed this fanfic, legit just flashbacks for chapter 2, this has been in my notes since 2016, will somebody help this man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-10 15:39:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13504572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodleweb/pseuds/doodleweb
Summary: Person A teaches Person B how to slow dance. Fluff ensues.But it's tinikling.





	1. Chapter 1

The colorful dresses and aura compliments the upbeat ambiance around the crowd.

Noises from tapping bamboo sticks and the euphonious music from the band fuels excitement and adrenaline to both dancers and audience.

Ibarra watches the jovial dancers from a distance. Its been such a long time since he has watched _tinikling_. He remembers the first time he watched it as a child. Something about it just makes it so special.

Was it perhaps the music? The dancers? The way its always being presented in public for everyone to see?

He doesn't know. And he doesn't mind.

Elias joins him too, salakot held down. He observes how invested Ibarra is. Like it was his first time seeing it.

Both of them just happened to come across the crowd while having a conversation. Of course, Ibarra, being the curious man he is, wanted to check what was going on.

"Its pretty, isn't it?" Elias turns his head to the man beside him, who has been watching the dancers with awe and kept complimenting them nonstop. Elias only hums in agreement.

The crowd cheers when the dance levels up. Two more bamboo sticks were held on top of the dancers.

Not only did they have to keep their feet jumping to the rhythm, but they had to duck their head as the bamboo sticks snap above them.

Elias watches Ibarra's smile widen and eyes lit up with bliss. He feels warmth spread across his chest. Just seeing Ibarra happy is just something special for Elias. A simple tug of a smirk he makes can take his breath away in a second.

Only now he is asking himself in the midst of a noisy crowd.

_Why, oh why did he fall in love with Crisostomo Ibarra?_

"Elias, is there something wrong?" Elias finally snaps out of his train of thought. He turns his head back at the dancers and lowers his salakot, hoping that it would hide the shade of red on his face.

"It's okay Señor. I'm fine. I just blanked out for a while." He clears his throat and pays attention to the tinikling again. Ibarra slowly scoots closer to Elias, leaning onto him. Elias nearly flinches at the contact but keeps his calm stature.

However, his breath hitches when he feels Ibarra press his cheek onto Elias' shoulder. Ibarra hooks his arm and clings onto the man.

By now, Elias' salakot won't save him from hiding the blush spreading across his face. Thankfully, the audience only seems to be paying attention to the dancers. Ibarra also seems to be still watching the dance too.

But for Elias, he's only embellishing the warmth of Ibarra leaning on him. How his cheek presses against his arm in the cutest way possible. And the fact that he is hugging his arm… His heart just almost skipped a beat.

"Elias?" Elias dares to look down to see the man's face. "Yes, Señor?"

"Have you ever learned how to dance like that?"

"Sorry, what?"

Ibarra repeats himself again, "I meant, have you ever tried dancing tinikling before?" Elias hesitates and looks away as he answers a small "Yes."

He seems to be surprised by the fact that the mysterious boatman of the town actually knew how to dance such an energetic and public performance.

Elias continues, "When I was a teenager. I used to practice it… then I stopped."

Before Ibarra could reply, a hand suddenly pushes him. Then another, and another, until he is brought to the front. Elias squeezes his way through the crowd and reaches for Ibarra.

"What's happening?" Ibarra asks after gaining back his balance with the help of Elias. "They're looking for volunteers, that happens often." His eyes widen and a pang of fear hits his chest at the word 'volunteers'.

"You're going to dance with them, Señor."

"What?"

One of the dancers forcefully grabs Ibarra by the hand and Elias watches the man flail in panic in the woman's arms. It looks like she's trying to convince him with words, but it ends up with Ibarra helpless without any means of escape.

Elias looks back to see people stare at Ibarra with interest and giggles could be heard from the audience. Looks like he's not the only one who was desperate to see the illustrado dance on the spot.

An idea suddenly pops up in his head. An idea he'd either regret or be content with.

Ibarra sees Elias walking towards them and whispers something to the woman's ear. She gives him a glance, eyebrows raised before she walks away.

Ibarra looks at Elias the same way the woman did. "What are you doing?" Ibarra isn't sure if Elias was not listening to his question at all or the music was too loud. Elias rolls his pants up to his knees and his sleeves to his elbows, Ibarra does the same with hesitation, putting aside his shoes and unbuttoning his coat vest.

Elias brings him to pair of bamboo sticks waiting for them on the floor being held by two guys.

"First you place your feet here."

"Like this?"

"Yeah."

They follow one step, then another. Elias guiding Ibarra's movements as they both dance to the beat.

Several times, Ibarra trips and almost falls. Elias seems to catch him every time he does and they continue on with their little dance.

One time Ibarra went too fast and tripped over the bamboo stick. Elias catches him in his arms once again.

"Slow down, this isn't a race."

"Sorry!"

Even after tripping countless times, Ibarra still manages to keep a smile on his face.

Ibarra was clinging onto Elias for dear life, his hands clamped to his shoulders while trying to keep up to his pace.

Elias takes note that the entire time, Ibarra was facing down. Focusing on his feet and the dance pattern.

"Ibarra, look up. You can't keep looking down."

And all of a sudden, all Elias could see were those brown eyes, Ibarra's hair obviously disheveled and his damned smile. The music, the audience, everything just blurs out of his vision. He could only think of Ibarra.

Elias feels like he couldn't breathe.

The music finally comes to an end. Elias and Ibarra hops out off the bamboo frame and find their way through the audience, and into an open space.

"That was great!" Ibarra exclaimed, the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. Elias only nodded in agreement.

"You were pretty good for a starter."

"I just kept tripping."

"What do you expect?"

"Thanks for catching me." Ibarra added a chuckle and Elias could only watch.

A few moments of silence went on, and Ibarra bid Elias goodbye.

Elias watches him walk away until he disappears from his sight.

Even after the _tinikling_ , he could still feel his heart beating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Revisit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ibarra revisits a memory
> 
>  
> 
> from thirteen years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im grade 10 now and like two people wanted me to update this fic. at first i said i couldnt because it was just a one shot, and then this idea popped into my mind after the kabanata 7 discussion. enjoyyyy.

The colorful dresses and aura compliments the upbeat ambiance around the crowd.

 

Noises from tapping bamboo sticks and the euphonious music from the band fuels excitement and adrenaline to both dancers and audience.

 

And Simoun hates it.

 

He was supposed to be at his office right now. He could not afford to be late on the work he has to do. Yet here he is, standing behind the crowds of people surrounding the dancers.

 

The combination of the heat from being pressed against the sweaty crowd and the cool night air is horrible, but Simoun still has the feeling he needs to see it.

 

Maybe if he closes his eyes for a while, he could relive the moment of him and Elias dancing to the beat of the music, flowing with the tempo of the tapping bamboo sticks, his heart racing to the speed of light, holding onto the rough, calloused hands that balanced him and the warmth that rouses within him whenever he got a look of those dark, melancholy eyes.

 

Maybe that's why he hates it so much, because he doesn't want to relive the memory again. Because that memory brings up more memories.

 

Memories of guilt Simoun would rather bury to the ground.

 

He could feel it rise in his stomach like bile. Oh God, if only he could throw it all up and forget about all of it. But he can't. He remembers. He always does.

 

He remembers the panic in Elias' eyes when he sees the Guardia Civil coming towards them, the sadness in his voice as he tells him that they will meet again, as if he knew that they wouldn't. He remembers Elias' limp body laying on the soil, bloody and wet. He remembers his legs shaking as he runs to his corpse and dropping beside him. He remembers hugging Elias from behind, arms around his chest and sobbing shakily into his shoulders. He remembers repeating his name over and over again as if Elias could hear his cries or feel the tight press from the hug or his apology because it's his fault that he is fucking _dead_.

 

What would it be like if they both lived in Europe together? He could have showed him his favorite places to visit, or the treat him to a nice restaurant in a middle of a town.

 

Or maybe he could have settled in with Elias inside a nice home where they would call their own. Simoun almost laughs at the fantasies he has made and thought about several times. Fantasies of him and Elias settling into a home in Europe. Of him and Elias debating about politics, eyes and words equally burning with passion. Of Elias complaining about the freezing cold weather and huddling to him for warmth. Of him and Elias sharing a bed and waking up in the morning just to stare at his beautiful, relaxed figure. Of him pecking Elias' cheek from time to time just to earn a blush from the other man. Of grasping his broad shoulders and pressing feather-light kisses on his neck pressed against his as he whispers in his ear how much he—

 

That's when Simoun realizes, he has never told Elias about how he truly feels about him, hasn't he?

 

He wonders if Elias ever thought of him in that way too.

 

Simoun senses a prickling sensation in the corner of his eyes. He takes a deep breath before letting out a shaky one. Nobody could see him like this. Nobody could see that the Brown Cardinal, the Black Eminence, has a weak side.

 

And so Simoun turns on his heel and walks away, the signs of civilization lessening as he stumbles into a familiar patch of forest. His legs grow weaker and weaker and when he is sure that there is nobody there to see him, he places a hand on a tree to steady himself, uses his free hand to grab his blue glasses and throw them onto the ground.

 

He finally breaks down to his knees.

 

He balls up his hands and pushes them to his face. Simoun cries and cries _hard_ , his body shaking and trembling from the sobs. All the pent up sadness and anger and guilt and stress comes in forms of tears that are starting to stain the soil beneath him.

 

When everything was cried out, he slowly looks up from his fists and just stares into the nothingness. And he stays there, relaxing into the silence and solitude surround him.

 

He takes a big breath, grabs his blue glasses from the ground, puts them back and stands up.

 

Simoun turns around and walks to his office.

 

There is still so much work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah you finished this thing!! thank you so much for reading :D
> 
> please please plEASE talk to me at itsdoodleweb.tumblr.com if you wanna talk to someone about el/noli whether its like a fangirl sort of thing or just discussing the novels.

**Author's Note:**

> Ayy lmao thanks for reading. Comments and Kudos are much appreciated. Fuck with me at Tumblr : itsdoodleweb.tumblr.com


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